Centers of Learning – The
University
How do you determine what and where to Study? Can what you seek be found in
Universities, Churches, cults, speakers on the circuit, or only by going to some far off retreat, ashram or
monastery? Is
there any organized religion that will teach you what you need to know without strings, rituals and
superstitions being attached?
Before we can safely and accurately look outside ourselves, we must look
within. It is
important for us to know who and what we are when we begin to consider the ultimate
questions. Most of the success motivation speakers and writers include in their formulas for success
the fact that we must 1) know exactly what we want, 2) we must design a plan to achieve it and 3) have the
will to see it through. Unfortunately, even these accomplished teachers frequently leave off the first and most
important step in this process.
They leave out the step necessary to achieve these three. In the early stages
of identifying the Universal Laws in our lives, we find that before we can take these steps we must know
exactly where we are. There is software available now where the best possible route to a destination is
traced for you. You can order it to tell you the best route by Interstate highways or the most direct way
to go using all available roads to any city. However, it can only map out
a path to somewhere you want to go if it knows where you are. It will not work without
knowing where we are!
When it comes to knowing where one is in the evolution of the soul, we must begin by asking
questions such as the samples listed below.
It is possible your answers will be both or
neither.
1) Do I really want
to learn something or am I looking for certification that I know
something?
2) Do I need a piece
of paper to authenticate myself for a job or do I want to know how to develop
myself?
3) Am I looking for
deep understanding or a career?
4) Do I recognize
and understand the rules of the game of life?
To determine what we want and develop a plan, we must begin by asking such questions
as:
1) What makes me
happy?
2) How would I like
to be remembered?
3) What kind of school do I need to get what I want?
5) Do I need a
center of learning like a university or some other source?
6) What are the
fields of knowledge?
7) In which field of
knowledge do I want to concentrate?
8) Can I get what I
want at a University?
To answer these questions, we need to examine what it is we are talking about when we think of
centers of learning or universities:
1) Where did
universities come from?
2) What was their
function when developed and what is it today?
3) What is a liberal
arts education as opposed to specific professional studies?
4) What is a “Whole”
education?
5) What, if
anything, am I going to get from the Institute of Applied Metaphysics that I can get nowhere else?
6) How does the
mission of the Institute of
Applied Metaphysics fit into the
spectrum?
Some early universities were more like the way we think of them today. Bologna, for instance, was actually organized by the students. It is thought by many scholars
to be the oldest university, but the Al-Azhar University,
founded in Cairo in about 970 is
several centuries older. By the standard of Mr. Schachner’s definition, the Essenes of Qumran, where many
believe Jesus spent much time before his ministry began (the so-called lost years of Jesus), would qualify as a
university; and we can go back even further to the mystery schools of
Egypt.
Of course, the State (Kings) became aware of the political value fairly
early. Frederick Barbarossa, the King of Sicily, Naples and Emperor of the Germans in 1158 decreed
the protection of students (Habita) and turned a whole principality into a “Studium Generale” (Where students
were received from all parts of Europe). These two words became synonymous with “University”. Some were founded to serve a
profession like the Studium of Salerno, an 11th century medical related
school. They
had a College of
Doctors and a trade guild of the
teachers in the Faculty of Medicine.
Once the Church became all-powerful it was natural that the Popes usurped
power. The
University was too important a political base. The World Book Encyclopedia
notes, “It
was gradually insinuated that a new University could not be a “Studium Generale”, with the right of
Jus ubique docendi (The right to
teach anywhere) for its masters, unless it possessed a Papal Bull of Foundation; or at least a charter from the
Emperor, who theoretically, was likewise a universal power.” These were powerful tools of
the state and the Church, and led to Masters Guilds. In Scholars & Gentlemen by Hugh Kearney it is
pointed out, “Essentially the universities were the educational organs of a vast ecclesiastical corporation,
looking to the Papacy as its head.”
With the industrial revolution came changes because the University is an integral part of the
power structure. Kearney points to the changes that came with Henry
VIII and the establishment of the Church of England. “Of the sixty halls at
Oxford in 1450, thirty were halls of
legists, namely cannon lawyers (doctrine or “law” of the Church). At Oxford there were many more legist halls than there
were colleges. Cannon Law literally disappeared because Church Clerics disappeared and the humanists or
Common Lawyers took over. Schachner, in comparing the mediaeval university with universities today wrote, “For
twentieth-century institutions of learning are but pallid simulacra of these lusty
forbears.” He goes on to say, “In fine, the Universities of today are but inconspicuous eddies in the
vast currents of modern life.”
Universities of all kinds are facing crises. L.G. Heller, author of
The Death of The American University,
when referring to the open admission policies of universities today defined it as “a political device for
conferring a college degree without providing a college education.”
The Institute of Applied Metaphysics affirm is that this study can be more important and of
greater value because one who understands the rules of the game and the innate powers of a human being there are
no limits except those we place on ourselves. We must choose our course of
study and create our lives.
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